Dear DeLIVER study teams,
Happy New Year to all! We hope you were able to enjoy some time off over the festive period and are re-energised for 2024.
Quarterly Catch-Up Meetings between DeLIVER team and site teams
We are pleased to announce our upcoming quarterly Teams meetings, focusing on the Pearl and Selina studies. These meetings are designed to facilitate discussions and provide a platform for direct feedback and queries from the site teams. We anticipate these sessions will be a good engagement opportunity and look forward to your active participation. The first two meetings are scheduled as follows:
Wednesday, 17th Jan, 15:30 – 16:00
Friday, 19th Jan, 12:00 – 12:30
We are offering 2 days and timeslots in the hopes that most of you will be free to join one of them – there is no need to attend both meetings. Please let Jenni know if you wish to attend and haven’t received a calendar invite yet.
Identification of HCC cases in Pearl
We would like to reiterate the critical importance of conducting visits at the point a patient is diagnosed with HCC. For the success and integrity of the study, it is imperative that we collect samples and data at the time of diagnosis, and before any treatment for HCC commences. Currently, we have identified 12 patients diagnosed, but suspect this number may be higher.
We are keen to ensure that each site adopts a proactive approach to identifying these patients, ensuring the timely capture of samples. During our quarterly catch-up meeting, we will be discussing this topic and would greatly appreciate your insights. If your site already has systems in place for identifying patients diagnosed with HCC, we encourage you to share your best practices and recommendations with the broader team.
Science and Publications
With well-established patient cohorts, the focus in 2024 will be on advancing the science behind the DeLIVER Programme. Sample analysis has commenced, and we look forward to building on this throughout the year, as well as working on publication of academic papers, that will include authors from clinical sites.
Collaborations
As well as working with our industry partners (Roche, Perspectum and Oncimmune), DeLIVER has been attracting interest from others, including the CRUK Scotland Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College. We hope to build upon and expand these collaboration opportunities in the coming year in order to maximize the potential of the data and samples held by the DeLIVER Programme.
DeLIVER Studies Overview
|
Pearl Study |
Selina Study |
|
First patient recruited 23 Feb 2022 1450 participants recruited |
First patient recruited 23 May 2022 121 participants recruited |
|
40 sites recruiting |
14 sites recruiting overall |
|
12 sites surpassing recruitment targets |
3 sites surpassing recruitment targets |
|
178 follow up visits recorded |
21 follow up visits recorded |
|
>41,000 sample cryovials collected |
>3000 sample cryovials collected |
As we reflect on the past year, we're thrilled to share some success stories. A heartfelt congratulations to Hamish Innes and Azim Ansari for securing the first and second place, respectively, in the 2023 Medical Research Foundation's Emerging Leaders Prize. This prestigious recognition highlights their outstanding contributions to viral and autoimmune hepatitis research, showcasing their potential as future research leaders.
Hamish Innes, a key collaborator on the DeLIVER Programme at Glasgow Caledonian University, brings a wealth of expertise in epidemiology, statistics, genetics, and analysis of linked health data. His work on exploring how clinical prediction models, such as risk calculators, can improve early detection of liver cancer in patients with cirrhosis is invaluable.
Azim Ansari, a statistical geneticist based in Oxford and a DeLIVER work strand lead, is making significant strides in investigating the host/viral genetic predisposition to HCC using genome-wide sequencing to identify DNA sequence variations associated with HCC risk. Azim's work holds promise for identifying key genetic factors that influence susceptibility to liver cancer, paving the way for more targeted and effective interventions.
Tamsin Cargill has started as a clinical lecturer in Hepatology at Oxford, and is working hard to acquire liver tissue from HCC with others at Oxford, so that we assess the direct relevance of biomarkers that we detect in the SELINA and Pearl studies.
Thank you for your continued dedication and contributions to the success of the DeLIVER Programme. Here's to a successful 2024!
Kind regards,
Ellie, Jenni, Emily, James, Will and Andy